Think Globally Act Locally | The Power Of R

Today I visited Mark R. Isfeld's Global Studies Class and delivered an epic 2.5 hour presentation on the globalization of garbage an what we can do about it. Lisa Chase, the instructor, sent me this letter later in the day. Here's what the instructor wrote to me in her email at the end of the day:

Lisa Chase - Teacher - Mark R. Isfeld

Early this fall I visited Eileen Monks' Courtenay Elementary Grade 2/3 class. Over the Christmas Holiday I received a note and this awesome class picture. The perfect gift. Thanks so much kids - I can't wait to see you again soon.

To book Zac Whyte for a Power Of R presentation in SD71 or SD72 contact him at zacwhyte@gmail.com

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This fall I visited a lively bunch of grade seven students at Airport Elementary and told the tale of Mokattam Village, better known as Garbage City, Cairo. The students were learning about ancient Egypt and their understanding made the modern day story of the Zabbaleen people that much more invigorating. The, approximately 60,000, people living in Mokattam divert an extraordinary 80% of the waste stream from Cairo's inner core and turn it into profit through recycling and livestock husbandry. Development in Cairo and the recent Arab Spring are threatening this remarkable utilization of waste for profit but that was not the focus of this presentation. The people of Mokattam have shown the world what is possible when it comes to recycling and a zero waste mentality. They are a living, functioning example of exactly what the world needs to be doing to deal with it's waste as a resource instead of potentially toxic landfill material.

To tie the story together, the second half of the presentation demonstrated to each student how they could each reduce their ecological footprint and make a powerful difference in their local community by reducing and reusing their waste.  The Power Of R was in the house.

_ "This fall I had the pleasure of having Zac Whyte come into my grade 6/7 classroom. We wanted to combine his work around solid waste reduction, with our class’ current study of Egypt. Zac was able to put together an engaging, relevant and unique presentation combining these two topics. He has an outstanding classroom presence, and his extensive knowledge and personal passion was able to inspire all of my students; he is terrific!" - Vanessa Hitchcock - Elementary Teacher

The grade 6-7 students at Queneesh Elementary are an active and technologically savvy bunch. Every time I visit Jaki Braidwood's class there are a rotating handful of students that use ipods to tweet mental connections they make during my presentations. All of her students utilize technology in everything that they do and, to be honest, it makes me jealous of my own elementary education. I also get to play/fumble on their SmartBoard and the kids all look at me funny because I haven't used one very often. We taught each other and from that relationship, built on solid waste, water issues, pixels,  and personal exploration, we started a very complex video production task together.  The Eco-Movie Preview Project.

The most powerful way to retain a concept of anything you learn is to apply it and then teach it.  Teaching a concept you have just learned, moves that information into a different part of your brain and this shift makes that idea more memorable. The kids were inspired and excited about a video project that I did together with students from Mark R. Isfeld and Lost Boys Visual Effects School called Disposable - The Billion Cup Blood Bath, and they wanted to make their own movie previews in groups of four to apply the knowledge about the environment they've acquired during the year. I think these students now have a better appreciation and respect for film-making and storytelling because as this task unfolded it got bigger and bigger and bigger.

These project was big because before you make a movie preview, it's a good idea to have a movie and before you have a movie you need storyboards and a script and before you have those you need a story, a message, a concept, and most importantly, you need to have facts and a firm grip on what you're talking about. In short, making a movie preview, or "pre-production," is a huge and vital task before the camera even gets switched on.

"When do we get to use the cameras," a kid shouted out as groups filled in a plot summary graphs with action scenes, apocalyptic devastation, person meets person scenarios and  car chases? "What are you going to shoot," I asked? "I don't know, something I guess." "Sounds interesting," I replied, "but probably not a movie I'd want to watch." "Oh yeah, I guess not." There were a few exchanges like this and they were really important to me. I've never tried working with students in this age group on such a conceptual project before. It was challenging and frustrating but also rewarding to see kids laughing their heads off about people picking up garbage and being chased by monsters at the same time. I can't help but to think of the hundreds of issues those monsters symbolize and the kids, unknowingly, tell the story idea to me with huge smiles, big eyes and the excitement that only validated connections can bring. It's a beautiful thing - this storytelling business, on so many levels.

The whole project was about learning to connect imagination with knowledge of the environment and communicating with peers diplomatically. Nothing has ever been achieved peacefully without these skills and collectively the students worked out their creative differences, merged their concepts and eventually produced an idea to create a movie from. Every group dynamic was  unique and moved at different speeds. Some excelled at communicating and got flustered by creative sections, while others had ideas spilling over and no organization. One thing was for certain though, everyone had a skill to contribute and everyone was critically important in the process.

After a quick introduction to lighting, camera angles, composition and audio techniques for their ipods, the students were set lose to film their storyboards.  Chaos, lots of laughs and growth overwhelmed the students and their projects. After that point I left and the groups shot, edited and posted their concepts to YouTube (see them below). Who knew learning about solid waste and water issues could be so transformational, rewarding and fun?  Thanks for the great term Queneesh. ACTION!

If you can't see the YouTube video above click here for the Vimeo version.

Now is the time to book me (Zac Whyte) for a presentation to your class, division, or school in the coming 2011-2012 school year. It was a huge year in 2010-2011  with several multi-class presentations, keynote addresses, workshops, and juicy energy boosting one off prezzies that made some waves. I'm so excited to engage your students and teach them how to direct positive change in our community.

I specialize in working with youth and young adults aged 12-30 and if you live in School District 71 or School District 72 you can receive presentations free of charge (some content and booking restrictions apply). I always work with your curriculum, especially at higher grade levels, to ensure your students are kept on track for final exam preparations and I'm always open to integrating creative new ideas together with you to maximize your themes, over-arching questions, or lesson plans. Be sure to look through this blog for examples. You will find everything from grade 8 applied math reviews based on the Comox Valley fresh water infrastructures to week long Social Studies 11 environment units. The only limit is our imagination and time so let's make something brilliant together.

If you are a teacher or administrator in SD71 or SD72 I look forward to booking a presentation or keynote speech with you soon. Dates are currently available from September 2011-June 2012. Have a fantastic and regenerative summer.

Contact me today at PowerOfR@gmail.com and put SPEAKING REQUEST FOR ZAC in the subject line. It's that easy.

The last month and a half has been a whirlwind of presentations and lesson planning at Vanier, Isfeld, and Carihi High. I spent a fantastic afternoon with GP Vanier's media production class speaking about video production to reduce solid waste. The dynamic group has been producing videos and I think you should watch this funky piece about personal style and reusable bags.

I spent a week with Mark R. Isfeld's Honours Liberal Arts class speaking about environment, globalization, and solutions for the planet's worst dilemmas that include fresh water shortages and waste production. I spent an incredible amount of time working with a really intensive curriculum and preparing students for the tricky essay questions on final exams in English 11, and Social Studies 11. I could easily spend a year going into depth teaching this exciting content but managed to get it introduced in a single week. I love this age group and teaching this complex subject matter. If you teach Social Studies 11, I would be happy to spend 1 to 5 days with your class. This service is free of charge for schools in district #71 and #72. Send me an email and we can meet to discuss everything ahead of time.

There were several presentations at Carihi High last month. Two of my favorites were with Wayne Demers' Social Studies 11 class and his Geography 12 class. Both of these incredible audiences were so engaged and energized I thought we were all going to explode. Learning about alternative lifestyle and reducing our collective impacts on the earth can be so amazing and transformational. These two classes in particular "got it" and my heart is still racing just thinking about what a great time we had. Several of the students have sent me emails asking questions, getting connections and finding out more information on how to get involved at a deeper level in their community service commitments and transforming their lifestyle from material wants to contributory needs. This is the reward of my work and every day is a bright adventure in the classrooms of Central Vancouver Island. I'm already looking forward to a revolutionary year in 2011-2012 on the road to Zero Waste in all of our public facilities.

I've been presenting at Mark Isfeld for another week delivering a good chunk of the Social Studies 11 environment and geography unit with teacher Jouska Laquelle. This class of students is extremely bright and I'm really enjoying the contradictory discourse about real world actions and dilemmas we, as a planet of crazy people, are facing.

One of the students explained, what I think is a common feeling among high school students, that "the world is a messed up place; we've been raised being told that over and over again; there's not much I feel can be done about that; so I've accepted that the world is messed up and learned to live with it." It's a sad reality and what is even more difficult is this type of woeful acceptance seems to be resonating right across Canada right now.  The recent Federal election boasted almost no environmental discussions and the local coffee shops are handing out more, not fewer, disposable cups on a daily basis even though everyone has a reusable mug somewhere in their car or cupboard.

As an educator it is my job to present two sides of a coin and guide students to their own connections and approaches to problems to foster their positive development. As an activist I find this process dreadfully painful and slow but as a teacher, an elder even, I find it indelibly rewarding on so many levels.

I share moments of this apathetic feeling towards bettering the world around me almost daily but only for minutes at a time. I call them my Mr. Hyde moments. I think it's healthy to have an inner skeptic because it provides a directional base to launch your action from. It's difficult to go somewhere if you don't know where you left from. However, being entrenched, bound, dismissive and qualitatively absorbed in a feeling of indifference, being a Mr. Hyde all the time, must be a numbing. I couldn't imagine a life waiting for something good to happen instead of making it happen for myself. The journey usually carries all of the reward for me and I can't imagine anything without a journey, or at the very least a good story, attached.

My challenge then is this: tomorrow I will go in for my last class with these grade 11's with one goal - give them the tools they need to feel like change is possible. I'm not talking about becoming Prime Minister or spacewalking the rings of Saturn but I am talking about walking down the street and feeling like the world could become a better place if I smiled at the stranger walking towards me and wanting to make the world a better place because that stranger's smile is my smile and that connection feels good enough to repeat everyday. Small steps everyday make the world a better place. Give it a go.

To book "c'est moi" for a Power Of R presentation at the middle. Secondary or College/University level contact me at powerofr@gmail.com

All that I can say is - wow. Last month I visited two incredibly motivated groups of seniors at Casa Loma Retirement Centre and Comox Valley Senior's Village in Courtenay.

When I walked into the door at Casa Loma I was immediately approached by two extremely motivated women wondering how to properly recycle a mountain of cassette tapes they had accumulated. I told them that the cases could be recycled right away but the tapes would have to be separated from the plastic before we could take care of those. "That's all we needed to hear," they said and pealed off like a pair of roadrunners to accomplish the task. I asked them if they wanted to stick around for the presentation but they were totally on fire, motivated; "no time for that," they said. Hahaha. Awesome.

In the following weeks I visited Comox Valley Senior's Village and shared some motivating stories related to water efficiency, community development and consumerism. I was incredibly touched by the same genuine spirit to make change in the community. One woman asked about batteries. "What should we do with all of the hearing aid batteries that are floating around here? Everyone just tosses them in the garbage?" I have never been asked that particular question before or been faced with a hearing aid battery dilemma. Who knew, but batteries are one of the most dangerous forms of waste at the Senior's Village. I encouraged the group to get an icecream bucket or margarine container and collect batteries around the massive building. I could then collect the bucket and take it to the Comox Valley Waste Management Centre for them so they could be dealt with safely. They were jacked - "a mission!"  One guy that was asleep in a chair woke up with all the excitement. We finished the discussion with a giant group hug.  What a great day.

If you have batteries be sure to keep them separate from your household waste and collect them in a special container for proper disposal. Many of the Middle and Secondary Schools now have battery collection bins that are filled and taken to the landfill for incineration on the mainland. If your school does not have a collection bin, start one - a blue box with a sign is good enough. For more information about battery or related presentations about solid waste and water contact powerofr@gmail.com Have an incredible day.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been working with Teacher Jackie Braidwood and Queneesh Elementary's grade 6-7 class to develop environmental movie trailers. The kids were inspired by the trailer I shot last year with Mark R. Isfeld Secondary's MITV called Disposable - The Billion Cup Blood Bath and wanted to make their own cool trailers.

In teams of the three the kids chose an environmental theme they wanted to base their movie on. They then chose a genre that would best suit their message. On a piece of paper with a storyline plot and climax chart, the teams proceeded to write a movie based on their theme. After they had figured out a movie plotline and the events that would happen they started storyboarding a movie trailer that would highlight the interesting tidbits in their plotline. As we created the cartoon storyboards we had discussions about composition and storytelling using a camera. Each team decided on camera angles, composition and sound effects that would work well with their finished pieces. Before we even held a camera the trailer was first "blocked" out on paper. The kids learned the planning process that is so critical to making a great film and some were overwhelmed by the effort.

The energy levels shot through the roof when the cameras came out. We are shot on a set of ipod touches. The kids had a blast trying to recreate their storyboards on camera. It wasn't easy to find perfect locations for all the shots so at one point I ended up hiking behind North Island College with a film crew looking for a stream. We found a swamp instead but that didn't work. It was definitely film-making - not glamorous but really fun.

The kids all learned by experience how much effort goes into creating a good visual story. We're still editing the pieces together and ironing out the kinks but I can't wait to see the finished products. I'll be sure to post them when they're done.

Once again GP Vanier's 30-Hour Famine was a fantastic evening of camaraderie and good times. 27 students and teachers abstained from eating to raise awareness and support for poverty related issues in Canada and around the world.

I was honoured to be invited again this year to speak at the event and celebrate with the students in their last hours of the famine. I never missed a famine event as a student at Vanier and going back into the halls always makes me feel good. I spoke to the student participants about community leadership and the importance of walking the talk. We discussed consumerism and solid waste, the environment and global interconnections. It was a laid back evening and it was really nice to just chill, talk, and rock.

Four of the students had formed a band and they dedicated some songs to me from the early 90's when I went to Vanier. They dropped a pounding version of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit, some Stone Temple Pilots, Candlebox and their version of Anarchy, which they just nailed. It was a rad tribute and I was pumped.

This event never disappoints and it was really fun meeting and getting to know the kids. Every day is a powerful day when you are making the world a better place. Congratulations Vanier on your amazing effort and fantastic 30 hours.

Find out more about the 30-Hour Famine by clicking here.